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Gene structure and expression characteristics of the auxin receptor TIR1 ortholog in Momordica charantia and developmental analysis of its promoter in transgenic plants

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Abstract

It is known that phytohormone auxin affects floral sexual determination in monoecious Cucurbitaceae such as cucumber and melon. TRANSPORT INHIBITOR RESPONSE 1 (TIR1) was first identified in Arabidopsis thaliana as the auxin receptor but few reports have correlated it with fruit initiation and development. As the first step to understanding the regulatory mechanism of auxin in flower sex expression, fruit set, and fruit development in bitter gourd, a TIR1 ortholog named McTIR1, was isolated and characterized in monoecious bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.). The translation start codon locates in the second exon of McTIR1. Based on phylogenetic analysis, the similarity of deduced amino acid sequence was closer between the McTIR1 and AtTIR1 than between McTIR1 and AUXIN SIGNALING F-BOX (AFB) family. Northern analysis indicated McTIR1 expressed in the early fruit developmental stages of bitter gourd. The McTIR1 mRNA was most abundant in young leaves and stems and lowest in roots of bitter gourd. Expression of McTIR1 was further characterized using transcriptional fusion construct containing β-glucuronidase reporter gene fused to the gene promoter and 5′-untranslated region of McTIR1. The expression of McTIR1 promoter decreased dramatically during the late stages of pistil development in transgenic tobacco. These results indicate that expression of auxin receptor McTIR1 is associated with the pistil development of unisexual flowers in bitter gourd.

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Abbreviations

GUS:

β-glucuronidase

TIR1:

TRANSPORT INHIBITOR RESPONSE 1

AFB:

AUXIN SIGNALING F-BOX

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for proofreading of this manuscript by Drs. Mark D. Barnes (Chinese Culture University), Fromnz Simon, and Raghu Rajasekaran. This work was supported by grants NSC96-2313-B-002-032-MY3 and NSC99-2313-B-002-008-MY3 from the National Science Council, Republic of China.

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Cheng-Ku Lin, Nien-Ying Lee, Pung-Ling Huang, and Yi-Yin Do declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Cheng-Ku Lin, Nien-Ying Lee, Pung-Ling Huang & Yi-Yin Do

  2. Graduate Institute of Biotechnology, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, 11114, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Pung-Ling Huang

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  1. Cheng-Ku Lin
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Correspondence to Yi-Yin Do.

Electronic supplementary material

Supplementary Fig. S1

Gene expression of McTIR1 in bitter gourd fruit sections treated with different kinds of auxin, different concentrations of IAA, and 500 μM IAA for different durations.

High Resolution image (TIFF 9359 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 2

Promoter activity of Nicotiana tabacum McTIR1pro::GUS transgenic seedlings treated with different abiotic stresses analyzed by GUS staining.

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Supplementary Fig. 3

Histochemical localization of GUS activity at different vegetative stages in transgenic Nicotiana tabacum.

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Supplementary Fig. 4

Histochemical localization of GUS activity in McTIR1pro::GUS transgenic Arabidopsis at different developmental stages of flowers.

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Lin, CK., Lee, NY., Huang, PL. et al. Gene structure and expression characteristics of the auxin receptor TIR1 ortholog in Momordica charantia and developmental analysis of its promoter in transgenic plants. J. Plant Biochem. Biotechnol. 25, 253–262 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13562-015-0336-4

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